Global Enterprise Safety and Security

Headlines

As with many companies, doing business around the world is a necessity, and along with that comes the risk associated with parts of the world. Regardless of what type of business you operate, there are threats looming for your employees and your assets. This customer, based in France, has operations throughout the world and the management at all levels travels extensively. Their initial concerns were for a couple of their manufacturing facilities that were located in very unstable and sometimes violent areas. They already had witnessed abductions of employees, mostly temporarily, mostly for small amounts of money. They also had concerns about the mid-management who ran the facilities, as well as visiting staff and customers.

U.S. Executive Kidnapped in Mexico; Policeman Slain in Chase

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 10— An American who is a leading hotel executive in Mexico has been abducted in the beach resort of Acapulco, the first publicly known kidnapping of an American citizen in the crime wave that has terrorized Mexico.
Vincent Carrozza, manager of the Acapulco Princess, a famous pink pyramid that is the resort's largest hotel, was dragged from his car inside the hotel complex on Tuesday morning by nine rifle-bearing kidnappers dressed in the black uniforms of the Mexican federal police, according to local police and a statement issued today in New York by the hotel's parent company.
Local police gave chase to two vehicles driven by the kidnappers. In a wild shootout on a palm-lined avenue that is the main road between the downtown and the airport, one policeman was killed and another critically injured, a senior state police commander said.
The kidnappers got away, and the shootings turned the abduction into a public news event.
Mr. Carrozza's abduction, apparently for ransom, is part of a three-year-old crime epidemic that has driven Mexicans toward desperation. Source: New York Times

Mumbai rocked by deadly attacks

Gunmen have carried out a series of co-ordinated attacks across the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), killing 101 people and injuring 287 more.
At least seven high-profile locations were hit in India's financial capital, including two luxury hotels where dozens of hostages are being held.
The buildings are now ringed by troops. Gunmen are also said to be holding people captive in an office block.
Police say four suspected terrorists have been killed and nine arrested. As day broke in Mumbai, the situation on the ground was still confused with reports of gunfire and explosions at between seven and 16 locations.
The city's main commuter train station, a hospital, a restaurant and two hotels - locations used by foreigners as well as local businessmen and leaders - were among those places caught up in the violence.
Commandos have surrounded the two hotels, the Taj Mahal Palace and the Oberoi Trident, where it is believed that the armed men are holding dozens of hostages.Source: BBC

Coca-Cola offices in Mexico attacked by protesters with gasoline bombs

Ten people were injured in southern Mexico after an attempt to attack the Coca-Cola company’s offices in the southern state of Guerrero.
The violence occurred in the state capital of Chilpancingo late on Wednesday.
The Guerrero state government said protesters tried to attack the Coke offices “to damage the facilities”.
It said the demonstrators, including teachers’ college students and unionized teachers, threw gasoline bombs, and a state police officer was burned.
Three other policemen were injured, along with two reporters and four protesters.
The demonstrators briefly took two company employees hostage. The Coca Cola Femsa company Mexico’s largest Coke bottler confirmed that, saying in a statement that “fortunately, our employees are well”.
The company did not say under what conditions the employees were released.
Local media reported the two employees were exchanged for protesters arrested earlier for taking Coke products from hijacked delivery trucks.
Coca-Cola delivery trucks have been hijacked and merchandise stolen by demonstrators protesting the 26 September disappearance of 43 teachers-college students. Local police reportedly detained the students in the nearby city of Iguala, then turned them over to a drug gang that apparently killed them and incinerated their remains.
Local media reported the company had filed a complaint about the thefts resulting in the arrest of some protesters.
Coca-Cola Femsa would not confirm that, but said: “we are currently evaluating the viability of our operations, with the primary consideration being the safety of our personnel.” Source: The Guardian

$4M in gold stolen in roadside heist

Gold worth more than $4 million was snatched from a truck pulled over in North Carolina on Sunday.
The vehicle broke down on Interstate 95 as it took a shipment of gold and silver from Miami to Massachusetts, North Carolina-based WITN reported, citing local authorities. Miami-based transportation company Transvalue had two armed security guards with the truck, but three armed men tied their hands behind their backs after emerging from a white van stopped nearby, authorities said. They took "several barrels" of gold and drove off. The locks on the truck's back doors appeared to have been cut off, WITN reported.Source: CNBC

$1.7 Million PlayBook Shipment Stolen at Truck Stop

RIM has just had over one and a half million dollars worth of PlayBooks stolen.
A few weeks back, Research In Motion was forced to cut the price of its PlayBook tablet in order to shift units. To make matters worse, the Canadian company has just been dealt another PlayBook-related blow as a whole truck full of the tablets has been stolen. According to news reports, a truck containing 22 pallets of PlayBooks was stolen in Indiana, after the driver had stopped at a rest stop to freshen up. The story goes that the driver had pulled in at a truck stop to shower and get some food. However, during the hour he spent tending to his needs, his truck, and its cargo, was stolen. The driver was headed for Ontario, but authorities have no leads on where the truck, the thieves or the estimated $1.7 million worth of PlayBooks are right now.
RIM has not yet commented on the incident, but the company is losing enough money on the PlayBook without adding stolen units to the list of reasons. Read the full story on the Herald Bulletin.Source: Herald Bulletin

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Solution

People Safety Monitoring

GEOS Provided both fixed and mobile incident alerting products, with precise location accuracy capability. The solution combined one-button alerting, as well as automated alerting based on customized rulesets. All of the solutions were available both in a cellular version, as well as a satellite version, with the fixed-panic buttons being 100% satellite. The satellite devices conform 100% to the RTCM Satellite Emergency Notification Device (S.E.N.D.) specification and monitored by the GEOS International Emergency Response Coordination Center (IERCC). The IERCC is the global exclusive monitoring provider for 100% of the combined voice/data satellite network providers. Regarding the fixed alerting, or panic buttons, some were attached to mobile assets, while others were attached to the physical facilities. Optional audible alarms, were installed for some incident types to alert all employees on the property, as well as neighboring companies in the area.

Secure Communication

Secure communications were provided in a multi-tier, multi-zone configuration. Allowing for both, silent and audible communications in full two-way mode. The communication routes support: one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-one comms bridge configurations. A secure incident bridge was also installed, and hosted off-site with all recordings stored in a certified facility, both for incident root cause analysis, and for evidence if required in the future. The communications network combined both voice and data transmission over the unified communications networks, or cellular and satellite. Landline communications still exist at the site, but are limited to non-incident communications, or day-to-day business operations.

Mobile Asset and Shipment Tracking

The company had unmarked or vaguely marked trucks used for grounds maintenance and for delivery of unfinished goods to the facility. However, third party, highly visible shipping companies were arriving to transport the finished goods. Often times the goods would simply not make it to their destination, so shipment tracking devices were placed on pallets of goods being shipped. The company or facility bus, was also monitored with a geo-fence device and self-defined rules. The tracking devices on the shipments proved invaluable in reclaiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen goods.

Local and Remote Monitoring

The company selected both local and remote monitoring solutions. At the local level, they contract with Securitas for security guard services, access control and alarm monitoring, so we at GEOS integrated our additional solutions into the policies and procedures for Securitas and trained their personnel. The monitoring system, was also monitored for larger scale incidents, asset security and safety issues back at the GEOS secure monitoring facility by the certified staff of the IERCC. As part of the new security procedures, GEOS can dispatch the roving foot and auto patrols to alerting locations, with detailed information.

Security System Integration

The solution provided by GEOS was also integrated into the customers CCTV Video Management System and Access Control system. This allowed immediate PTZ camera view of the incident location, and tracking of individuals from the initial area of notification. With the integration also came the ability to automatically perform LOCK DOWN, not just the broadcast, but the physical locking of the doors.

Best of Class Incident Response and Coordination

The team at GEOS have responded to tens of thousands of incidents in over 140 countries since 2007. We have excelled in our areas of expertise on the global stage and have the history to show for it. Our entire operations team is trained and certified by the U.S. Government in all operational areas.

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